On July 16, 1999 I mailed a memo indicating that beginning January 1,
1999, Non-Student TemporaryEmployees
(NSTE) who work half-time or more for six consecutive months are
required to be covered under the State medical insurance program at the
start of the seventh month. We began placing NSTE in this fringe
benefit on July 1, 1999, based on effort rendered from January through
June. WSU did not receive an additional appropriation from the legislature
for this increased expense. The Executive Committee has decided there will
be no off-setting allocation from the benefits pool for state funded positions.
The cost for the State medical insurance program is $391.15 per month,
which includes basic life, dental, and health insurance.

Since the initial memo of July 16, 1999, many questions have been asked
about the administration of the state medical insurance for Non-Student Temporary Employees
(NSTE) who work half-time or more for six consecutive months and
become eligible for medical insurance at the start of the seventh month.
The following is a summary of the answers.

Q1 Who are Non-Student Temporary Employees
(NSTE) and what expense records are being counted for the half-time
criteria?

A1Non-Student Temporary Employees
have job classifications starting with series 8000 and running through
8999. These NSTE are either not enrolled, or enrolled for fewer
that six credit hours during the academic year (fewer than three credit
hours during the summer), and are being paid an hourly or piece rate
wage. All payroll expenses with job classification 8XXX are evaluated
and counted to determine whether the sum is equal to, or greater than
half-time each month.

Q2 What is defined as half-time?

A2 Half-time is determined by taking the number
of Monday through Friday days in a month times eight hours times one-half.;
e.g. August 1999( 22 X 8 X .5 = 88 hours).

Q3 Do overtime hours count when determining half-time?

A3 Yes. All hours paid on job classification(s)
8XXX count.

Q4 Can I avoid the benefit expense by paying
the NSTE piece rate?

A4 No. For those few employees who are paid by
the "piece", there is an hourly equivalent per piece calculation
which determines that if it takes four hours to complete a piece, and
the NSTE was paid for five pieces, then twenty hours are being
accumulated for the monitoring.

Q5 When does medical insurance eligibility start?

A5 Medical eligibility occurs at the start of
the seventh month, after having worked half-time or more for the preceding
six months.

Q6 If the NSTE became eligible at the
start of the seventh month, yet the appointment(s) end after six months,
what happens?

A6 Even though the NSTE became eligible
for medical insurance, since the NSTE had no active appointments
at the start of the seventh month, they were not granted coverage.

Q7 If the NSTE appointment(s) continue
beyond six months, and the NSTE work at least eight (8) hours
a month, yet less than half time, does their medical insurance continue?

A7 Yes, the NSTE will retain
their medical insurance as long as their appointment continues without
a break in service.

Q8 What constitutes a break-in-service?

A8 A break in service is achieved when the NSTE no
longer has any active appointments for a calendar month and the NSTE receives
no pay from WSU for the entire calendar month.

Q9 What happens if the NSTE had medical
insurance, yet a break-in-service occurs?

A9 Medical insurance will end at the end of the
month preceding the calendar month in which the break-in-service occurred.

Q10 If the NSTE medical insurance ends,
what then?

A10 The NSTE will have the opportunity
to continue medical insurance coverage on a self-pay basis through COBRA
rules. Contact Benefits (335-4589) for further information.

Q11 Can the NSTE medical insurance begin
again after meeting a new qualifying period?

A11 Yes. If the NSTE medical insurance
ended because of a break-in-service, and the NSTE then worked
half-time or more, for six consecutive months, NSTE will once
again be eligible for medical insurance at the start of the seventh month.

Q12 If I am a departmental administrator trying
to prevent this medical insurance expense from happening, what can I
do?

A12 Do not let a NSTE work half time or
more for any consecutive six month period. Do not set up Temporary Appointments
with indefinite end dates.

Q13 If I am a departmental administrator and
terminate a NSTE appointment, yet they continue working for another
department at half time or greater what will happen?

A13 If the NSTE works half time or more
for six consecutive months they are eligible for insurance at the start
of the seventh month. If you no longer employ the NSTE, you will
not bear any of the benefit expense. The one or more other departments
for which the temporary employee continues to work will share the medical
insurance benefit expense in accordance with how the effort was rendered.

Q14 How can I monitor which NSTE might
become eligible for medical insurance?

A14 Every NSTE who became eligible for
medical insurance already became eligible for Department of Retirement
Systems (DRS) retirement participation. DRS eligibility rules for retirement
participation requires that you be employed for seventy (70) or more
hours for five (5) or more months in a monitoring year (a monitoring
year is a twelve month look back). Therefore, all HCA participants already
became DRS retirement participants (unless the NSTE already has
a student spouse waiver from DRS participation on file for the semester),
however not all retirement DRS retirement participants will become HCA
medical insurance participants.

Q15 Is there anything in HEPPS that alerts me
to which NSTE are retirement participants?.

A15 Yes. In HEPPS inquiry, using "conversation
QPREXP", you will see the 8XXX job classification and earnings types "HRP".
The earnings type "HRP" indicates that the employee is both
eligible for, and usually participating in DRS retirement system coverage.
Benefits also sends a copy of the DRS PERS retirement enrollment letter
as well as the HCA eligibility letter to the department when each event
occurs.

Q16 Will the accounting sub-objects differentiate
the benefit expenses that do not receive an off-setting allocation from
the benefits pool?

A16 Yes. Sub-object HE for PERS I and HF for
PERS II show the NSTE retirement expenses. Sub-object MD will
show the medical insurance expense for NSTE. These sub-objects
can be seen in either HEPPS (QYRPREXP) or Balances.

Q17 How will departmental account(s) be charged
for the insurance expense?

A17 Like every other benefit expense, the insurance
expense will be pro-rated in accordance with how the effort of the NSTE was
rendered. If the NSTE works 20 hours for department "A",
10 hours for department
"B", and 5 hours for department "C", the $391.15
expense will be split "A" $223.51, "B" $111.76, and "C" $55.88
respectively.

Q18 What if the benefit eligible NSTE is
paid from an account which will not support benefit expenses? Can I override
the benefit expense(s) to another account? How do I accomplish this?

A18 If the account does not allow any benefit
expenses (no object 07), there is a way to override the expense to another
account. The over-ride account must usually be in program "17".
To have all the benefit expenses transferred to a program "17" account,
submit the request in writing to Alice Smethurst (alice@wsu.edu).
Be sure to include NSTE name & ssn, as well as the current
and over-ride account.

Q19 When I interviewed and hired the temporary
employee, I was assured he/she was an undergraduate student and enrolled
full time. I appointed him/her as a temporary student employee. Now I
find out that the undergraduate student enrolled for less than six credit
hours, and they have been paid as a NSTE. What can I do about
this?

A19 Since by definition, temporary employees
are casual laborers and serve at will, you can terminate
their employment at will. Temporary undergraduate student employees who
do not enroll for six or more hours are considered NSTE and are
paid as such. Temporary graduate student employees are considered non-student
when their enrollment falls below five credit hours. When enrollment
drops below the minimum credit hours (6 credit hours for undergraduate,
5 for graduate), the students education is considered "incident
to" their employment. They are paid as a NSTE that might
become eligible for retirement and medical insurance participation. When
the students education becomes incident to their employment by
their enrolled hours falling below the minimum (6 credit hours for undergraduate,
5 for graduate), they immediately become eligible for Old Age Survivors Insurance
(OASI) and Medicare, with contribution rates of 6.2% and 1.45% respectively.
The employee and WSU each bear the 7.65% benefit expense for OASI and
Medicare.

Q20 If a NSTE begins and ends an appointment
in the middle of the calendar month--e.g. 05/16/99 and it ends on 11/15/99,
is this six consecutive months counted because it is 6 months time OR
is it NOT counted?

A20 Although the appointment begin and end dates
may impact the available hours to work, what matters is the actual number
of hours worked per month divided by the total number of work hours in
the month, regardless of appointment begin and end dates.

Q21 If the NSTE became eligible, yet declined
medical insurance coverage, what would happen?

A21 WSU is obligated to reimburse the Health
Care Authority for medical insurance even when the employee declines
and or waives coverage. Therefore your account(s) will still be
charged as long as the NSTE works 8 hours a month and
there is no break in service.

Q22 Who do I speak to if I have additional question?

A22 Payroll Services will keep an up-to-date
list of Q&As on its WEB site. If you have a question that has
not been answered on the WEB site, email your question to Alice Smethurst,
at alice@wsu.edu. Once we answer your
question, and determine that the Q&A is a University issue, it will
be added to our Q&A WEB site.